Toboso Revisited: A Fishpond, 19 Bodies, and a Crime Scene No One Preserved A month after a military operation in Negros Occidental left 19 people dead, mishandled evidence, submerged remains, and a frightened community stand between investigators and the truth. rightsreport.org/2026/05/21/t...

UK Firm Was Paid Php9 Million a Month to ‘Rebrand’ Marcos Name. Then Came the Floods. Whale Hunting, following reporting by Philippine news outlets, reveals an intl image operation built around the son of a kleptocrat and the corruption it was designed to obscure. rightsreport.org/2026/05/20/m...

Court Throws Out Terrorism Financing Case vs Cebu NGO Workers, Who Vow to Sue Govt A Cebu court found the charges rested on a terrorist designation that did not exist when the alleged acts took place—exposing a prosecution that critics say was never about terrorism. rightsreport.org/2026/05/19/c...

After a deadly clash left 19 people dead, including two children, soldiers swept through a remote farming community, searching homes and leaving residents too frightened to step outside for days. Marchel P. Espina reports from Toboso. rightsreport.org/2026/05/18/s...

ANALYSIS: The Office of the Solicitor General produced what many legal scholars are calling the most consequential brief in years. It also inadvertently made the case for why the Philippines needs to go back to the ICC, Carlos Conde argues. rightsreport.org/2026/05/18/b...

RA 9851: When the Law’s Proponents Become Its Enemies ANALYSIS: The fate of the Philippines’ most powerful accountability statute – the law on crimes against humanity – is not an irony. It is a diagnosis of the rot in our political culture, Carlos Conde writes. rightsreport.org/2026/05/16/r...

Jailed Filipino Journalist Wins 'Courage in Journalism' Award “The world recognizes in Frenchie Mae a journalist imprisoned for doing her job — and in that recognition lies the most damning vindication of her work and cause as a people’s journalist.” – NUPL rightsreport.org/2026/05/15/c...

When Duterte was useful to deliver to the ICC, Marcos found the mechanism. When delivering Bato dela Rosa was inconvenient, the mechanism became invisible--and the fugitive became a ghost. The pattern is too clean to be coincidence & too sustained to be incompetence. rightsreport.org/2026/05/15/s...

Loren Helped Bring the Philippines to the ICC. Now She’s on Duterte’s Side. The senator once said the Philippines joined the ICC to ensure impunity would never be tolerated. Her son Leandro’s legal battle with the Marcos administration provides a clue for her pivot. rightsreport.org/2026/05/13/l...

EDITORIAL: History Is Patient. So Is The Hague. None of this means justice is inevitable, or that Dela Rosa will board a plane to The Hague tomorrow. Impunity fights hard on its way out. rightsreport.org/2026/05/12/b...

Toboso Probe Underway: CHR Subpoenas Army Files on Clash, but Some Families Refuse to Talk CHR investigators, who recently conducted a walk-through at the site of the clash, say coordination with state security forces has been a challenge. Marchel Espina reports. rightsreport.org/2026/05/12/t...

How the Army, Aided by Residents and Drones, Set a Deadly Trap to Pin Down Toboso Casualties Residents heard the first shots before sunrise. By afternoon, 19 people were dead — and a small community in Negros Occidental was left trying to understand what happened. rightsreport.org/2026/05/11/t...

Defeated at Every Turn While Offending the ICC with His Media Antics, Duterte’s Lead Lawyer Exits Nicholas Kaufman’s contract expired and his conduct drew official rebukes — but the real story is that he ran out of legal road. rightsreport.org/2026/05/09/k...

The Jay Sonza Cyberlibel Conundrum: Miss by an Inch, Miss by a Mile Allowing an unjust law to crush a propagandist today only sharpens the blade that will inevitably be used against legitimate journalists tomorrow, Cong Corrales argues. rightsreport.org/2026/05/08/s...

How ASEAN Keeps Looking Away as Human Rights Deteriorates When members kill their own citizens, the bloc’s political forums look away, its rights body says nothing, and its doctrine of non-interference provides the institutional cover for all of it. rightsreport.org/2026/05/08/a...

From Rappler to Human Rights Watch: Lian Buan Steps Into a Critical Role Lian Buan of Rappler is joining Human Rights Watch as its new Philippines researcher. She will be only the second Filipino in HRW’s history to hold the position, after Carlos Conde rightsreport.org/2026/05/06/l...

‘Red-Tagging Must Stop.’ CHR Offers Ways to Make that Happen. The Philippine’s own rights body released a report on red-tagging, its second in 6 years, that lays out exactly what needs to happen. The question is whether anyone in power will act on it this time. rightsreport.org/2026/05/06/r...

#WorldPressFreedomDay #WPFD2026

By Spinning #Toboso19 Killings Before Credible Probe, Marcos Govt Violates International Law The Marcos govt has framed its response to Toboso as though the military’s declaration of “success” is the default conclusion. International law says the opposite. rightsreport.org/2026/04/30/t...

Sued for Doing Her Job, Cagayan de Oro Journalist Fights Back, Questions Misuse of CyberCrime Law A radio news director in Cagayan de Oro published chat screenshots to document why an official canceled a promised interview. Now she faces up to six years in prison. rightsreport.org/2026/04/29/m...

WATCH: THE AGONY OF NEGROS: Unanswered Questions and the Dehumanization of Rebels and Dissenters, with @indayevarona @carloshconde @danabatnag rightsreport.org/2026/04/28/n...

Toboso 19: The Communist Party's admission that nine of the 19 killed were not its combatants shifts the burden squarely onto the Armed Forces — and onto whatever investigation is still credible enough to find the truth. rightsreport.org/2026/04/28/t...

FOG OF WAR OR COVER-UP? #Negros19

Another ‘Nanlaban’ Claim: Boy, Dad, Cousin Killed in Police Raid for Militant A joint military-police operation targeting a suspected militant left three members of a Zamboanga City family dead. The man they were looking for was not among them. rightsreport.org/2026/04/27/z...

19 Dead Bodies and the Army’s Claims That Don’t Add Up A 12-hour running gunfight should leave plenty of evidence: spent casings,trampled paths,bloodstains,bullet holes in trees or structures. These should have been documented by now. What are they hiding in Toboso? rightsreport.org/2026/04/26/t...

‘Negros 19’ Deaths Need to Be Investigated. But Who Is Credible Enough to Do it? After 19 were killed in Negros Occidental, everyone calls for an investigation. History shows why that may not be enough. rightsreport.org/2026/04/25/n...

Why the Laws of War Matter in Places Like Negros — and Why They Are Routinely Ignored Both sides in the Philippines’ communist insurgency have formally committed to follow the rules of war. In Negros Occidental and elsewhere, they have repeatedly broken them. rightsreport.org/2026/04/24/i...

Death of 19 in Army Raid Raises Hard, Familiar Questions Nineteen people are dead and hundreds displaced after a military operation in Negros Occidental. The military called it a decisive victory against the communists. Human rights groups are demanding answers. rightsreport.org/2026/04/23/n...

Duterte’s Lawyer Is Right About the ICC Seeking Relevance. He’s Just Wrong About Why. NEWS ANALYSIS by Carlos Conde: The ICC handed drug war families something no Philippine court ever did: a real shot at accountability. Pres. Marcos has no excuse not to meet it. rightsreport.org/2026/04/23/i...

This Group Helped Put Duterte’s Words on Trial at the ICC Most Filipinos have never heard of No Peace Without Justice. But for nearly a decade, this Rome-based advocacy group quietly helped build one of the most consequential human rights cases in Asian history. rightsreport.org/2026/04/22/d...

If The Hague Can’t Help, Can Manila? A ruling against the ICC’s jurisdiction on the Duterte case would leave thousands of Filipino families with few good options — and a government that has shown little appetite to be the answer. rightsreport.org/2026/04/21/i...

What RFK Award to Filipino Lawyers Group Means for Human Rights in the Philippines and Beyond NUPL, like other legal aid groups before it, was born out of the Philippines’ long struggle for justice and accountability. rightsreport.org/2026/04/18/n...

From Online Abuse to Real-World Harm: The War on Women Journalists in the Philippines Women journalists in PH are among the most targeted in the world, and the attacks online are increasingly designed to follow them into real life. But they are fighting back. rightsreport.org/2026/04/16/w...

CONTEXT CHECK: Layers of markups and taxes that push prices as high as 355%, a gutted generics law, kickbacks to doctors, and decades of regulatory failure have made the Philippines one of the most expensive pharmaceutical markets in Asia. rightsreport.org/2026/04/14/h...

How Ayala Took Land Away from Poor Iloilo Fisherfolk to Build a High-End Resort New documentary shows how Ayala Land grabbed 335 hectares of agrarian reform land in Sicogon, Iloilo, displacing hundreds of small fisherfolk. #ayalaland #agrarianreform #landgrabbing rightsreport.org/2026/04/13/s...

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The drug war that killed 1000s under Duterte remains a policy under Marcos. A fundamental shift in policy is clearly warranted. The question is no longer whether harm reduction works. The question is whether the govt is willing to do what it already said it would. rightsreport.org/2026/04/10/d...

Hundreds Are Still Being Killed in Drug War. What’s Stopping Marcos Govt from Doing the Right Thing? A summit in 2024 asked the govt to treat illegal drugs not as a crime problem but as a public health problem. The body count since then suggests it isn’t listening. rightsreport.org/2026/04/10/d...

A CHR report accuses the Philippine govt of violating laws meant to protect children. It documents a pattern of abuse that begins at arrest, continues inside government-run facilities, and is sustained by a justice system too broken and too slow to protect them. rightsreport.org/2026/04/09/c...

Nearly 25,000 people were apprehended in two days. The police say it’s about discipline. Critics say the numbers reveal exactly what’s wrong with the operation. Police Nab Thousands in Urban Poor Sweep; Lawyers, Child Rights Groups Call Arrests Illegal, Anti-Poor rightsreport.org/2026/04/09/u...

Building on previous documentation by human rights groups, the CHR issues a report this week that says the facilities waiting for these children are still squalid and abusive. Remulla’s Crackdown: Arrested Children Could End Up in Hell-Holes Like Bahay Pagasa rightsreport.org/2026/04/08/d...

From ‘Warfare’ to Welfare: Project Aims to Change the Way Filipinos View and Talk About Drug Use In a first, the Philippines launches community-led harm reduction modules that recognize the human rights of drug users and impart empathy rather than fear. rightsreport.org/2026/04/07/h...

Rights Report Philippines founder and editor Carlos Conde will be speaking at this event tomorrow organized by the Ateneo Human Rights Center. www.facebook.com/AteneoHRC/po...

The government says young people loitering after 10 p.m. will be arrested. Well-meaning, perhaps, but legally infirm. A child caught out past curfew is supposed to be taken home, not taken into custody. The law treats it as a welfare issue, not a criminal one. rightsreport.org/2026/04/07/r...

What prompted this schoolgirl from the Philippines to walk out of her graduation ceremony, marched through the streets of her town in Bicol carrying this sign, and pleaded with President @bongbongmarcos for help? #ChildSexualAbuse #Education #Rape ➡️ rightsreport.org/2026/04/01/c...

How Will We Read If We Are Being Raped?’ An 11-year-old girl’s letter to President Marcos jr. went viral. Behind it is a small shelter in Camarines Sur — and a fight against an official the children say has made their lives impossible. rightsreport.org/2026/04/01/c...

A new report by UN expert Mary Lawlor finds that Meta/Facebook, X, TikTok, YouTube and other platforms activists rely on to expose abuse are increasingly being used to silence them — and the tech companies responsible appear to be paying less and less attention. rightsreport.org/2026/03/31/s...

A report by Workers’ Rights Watch paints a grim picture of the state of labor rights in the Philippines. Accountability is practically zero while much-vaunted mechanisms to stop or mitigate the violations, like the European Union’s GSP+, have proven ineffective. rightsreport.org/2026/03/31/l...

Filipinos are struggling with housing, yes. But what the data actually shows is that the Philippines has an inequality problem — deep, structural, and decades in the making. Housing is simply where people feel it most acutely. Affordable housing is a human right. rightsreport.org/2026/03/30/h...